France's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Post‑War Surge, Later Stabilization
France's nitrous oxide emissions grew steadily through the 20th century, with a clear post‑war acceleration. Agriculture and industry both expanded, lifting national emissions from modest levels in the early decades to much higher levels by the 1970s-1980s. Since then, growth has given way to slower change and gradual easing in the main sources.
Agriculture Now Dominates, Easing
Agriculture accounts for well over half of national N2O emissions, and it climbed rapidly after the 1940s before peaking around the mid‑1980s at roughly 40 megatonnes. Since then, agriculture has trended down to around 30 megatonnes, still the largest single source and the key driver of France's overall N2O trajectory.
Industry’s Rise And Retreat
Industry surged until the early‑to‑mid 1970s, peaking near the low‑30s megatonnes, then declined for decades to very low levels today. Cumulatively, industry has added around 1,100 megatonnes since 1850, while agriculture has contributed roughly 2,600-reinforcing the long‑run dominance of agriculture. Energy remained comparatively small, hovering around a few megatonnes and edging down since the mid‑2010s. "Other" sources drifted lower from the early 1990s and are now under 1 megatonne. Together, non‑agriculture remains smaller than agriculture alone.
Actionable Outlook
Today, agriculture is slowly falling but remains the decisive source; continued reductions here will matter most. Industry's long decline is encouraging and should be sustained. Energy and other sources are modest and broadly stable to slightly down; keeping them on a downward path will support further national progress.
Background
The chart shows a national breakdown by source of the yearly nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from human activities and processes, expressed as weight in megatonnes (Mt). Human-induced emissions are the main driver of the increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide that is warming our planet. The sources of human nitrous oxide emissions are
- Agriculture
- Energy
- Industry
- Waste
- Other
Agriculture
Emissions related to agriculture are mainly from the use of synthetic fertilizers and manure management.
Synthetic fertilizer, used for agricultural processes, contains a lot of nitrogen. That nitrogen in the soil reacts and causes considerable N2O emissions. The use of excess fertilizer, meaning more fertilizer than the plants can use to grow, causes even higher relative emissions. Applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time can reduce N2O emissions. There are many technical solutions to reduce emissions while keeping, or even increasing, agricultural yields.
When manure is left on the field or otherwise managed in dry processes, it emits considerable amounts of nitrous oxide. Manure can be managed by wet processes, which reduces nitrous oxide emissions but increases methane emissions. Some technical solutions focus on modifying the animal feed to reduce the nitrogen in the manure, thereby reducing nitrous oxide emissions.
Energy, Industry, Waste, and Other
All non-agricultural categories together have much lower emissions than agricultural emissions alone.
N2O emissions related to energy are almost all from the combustion of fossil fuels. For example, the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants, cars, and airplanes not only causes CO2 emissions but also emits nitrous oxide (N2O). Any advances to reducing fossil fuel dependency will thus also reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
Most industry-related emissions are from the chemical industry for producing fertilizer, nylon, and similar products. Technologies are available to reduce emissions in these processes.
Nitrous oxide emissions from waste come from, for example, wastewater treatment and landfills.
Wikipedia: Nitrous oxideIPCC: AR6, 5.16 Anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions
Units and Measures
N2O emissions are expressed in the total weight in megatonnes per year. 1 Megatonne is equal to 1 million tonnes.
Wikipedia: MegatonneWikipedia: Global warming potential
About the Data
The last available year in all the emission datasets is 2023. N2O emissions come from the PRIMAP-Hist dataset. It is a rich dataset that combines several published sources to create a historical emissions time series for various greenhouse gases.
The Key Insights paragraph was created using a large language model (LLM) in combination with our data, historic events, and a structured approach for best accuracy by separating the context generation from the interpretation and narrative.
Data Sources
PRIMAP-hist The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023)
Update cycle: Every few monthsDelay: Less than 1 yearCredits: Gütschow, Johannes; Busch, Daniel; Pflüger, Mika (2024): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023) v2.6. Zenodo.